1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sanitary devices and more particularly to a novel seat-raising apparatus carried on the underside of a pivotal toilet seat so that the user may readily automatically raise the seat without using hands and without touching the seat itself.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It has been the conventional practice to raise and lower toilet seats by manually grasping the seat edge and manually lifting or lowering the seat accordingly. The seat is generally hinged at its rear edge to a bowl so that the seat can te rotated about the hinge pins from a usable position on top of the toilet bowl itself and a storage position against the toilet tank where it is kept in a substantially vertical position.
Some attempts have been made to provide lifting means for such seats that employ complicated linkages and mechanisms so that the seat may be moved between either the up or down position. Conventionally, a user intending to avoid touching of the seat, will use his feet, loose sticks or the like in order to raise or lower the seat. Obviously, problems have been encountered when employing such conventional seat-raising means since the conventional pivoting levers and linkages are expensive and difficult to install. Using a person's shoe or stick is extremely rudimentary and is not always successful in raising or lowering the seat in a convenient manner and one which will not break or damage the seat.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel means for raising a toilet seat which will neither damage the seat nor utilize expensive parts, complicated levers or linkages, and particularly, to provide a means for raising and lowering the seat which is sanitary and convenient for handicapped persons to use.